ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

65.5

AFTER DROPPING OFF her things at Julia's house, Katerina waited until she was fully ready, busying herself by folding her clothes and making sure she had Piper and Jason's address in her phone ( she wore the pearl anklet they'd gotten her, with the tag on it — she should cut it off, but she's too attached to it. Maybe she just won't wear it in public when it could be stolen and they could be doxxed ). And she spun the keys they'd also given her around with her fingers, mostly just because it's fun. She's always had nimble fingers. They don't call her the Master Thief for nothing.

( Oh, who is she kidding? No one calls her that. But that's because she refuses to be hunted down — by the authorities, by her mama, by anyone. She prefers to be the Hunter. Hah. Hunter. Hunters of Artemis. Gods, Katerina hasn't thought about them in so long. She could've become one of them, but it wouldn't have felt right. Not without Zoë or Phoebe. Katerina loved Thalia and all, but hanging around her ex-boyfriend's sister? No way. )

"I stole your suitcase," Julia announced, bringing her out of her thoughts.

She frowned. "You stole my—" she looked over, and saw that Julia had taken the suitcase that Calypso had given her for her Christmas present. Then she looked at her suitcase and realized that she'd taken her old one. Well, Jules had taken her old one.

"How'd you even get it down to my car without me noticing?" asked Katerina, fiddling idly with the ruby pendant that she'd put around her neck last second. She was thinking ahead for once; she'd probably be so out of it tomorrow morning that she'd go to the airport and somehow get mauled by monsters. At least then she'd have a warning sign.

"You're getting old, Katya," drawled Jules. "Your vision's getting worse. Your memory's fading."

"Ha, ha, fuckin' baby," Katerina glared at her. "Can you get ready quicker?"

"You're so concerned about your lover babes that you didn't notice shit," they raised her hands in surrender. "Don't blame me for your issues."

"Never call them that ever again."

Julia rolled her eyes, finally fucking finishing putting on makeup. "Party pooper."

"Love you too," drawled Katerina, watching them as she walked up to the stolen suitcase, opening it and whistling at the inside.

"Damn, Calypso really pulled out the stops for you this year," they commented.

Katerina shrugged. "That's what you get when you make friends."

"I have more friends than you do," Julia stuck out her tongue, getting up to go shove their shit in the suitcase.

"Friends in high places?"

"Is Calypso really in a high place? She's with Leo."

Katerina snorted. "Good point."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, where Julia shoved her things into the suitcase and Katerina stuck her AirPods in her ears and practiced Duolingo because she wanted to collect all of the languages. She picks up languages easier than most people do because of who her father is.

"Okay!" Jules closed the suitcase loudly, making Katerina flinch. "We can go now."

"It's, like, three," Katerina deadpanned.

"Says the one who woke up at, like, noon," retorted Julia. "And that's only because I woke you up."

Katerina rolled her eyes, standing up and stretching. "Yeah, well, you know that adults are supposed to sleep less over time?"

"That doesn't fucking apply to you at all," Jules scoffed.

"I'm a kid at heart," commented Katerina. "Let's go."